


Tsunami

by theultimatenerd04



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a sad ending, Character Death, Gen, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is depressed, a really big one, angsty fic, like seriously depressed, people aren't nice to tony :(, peter pepper and rhodey all died in the snap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 19:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21276479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theultimatenerd04/pseuds/theultimatenerd04
Summary: "It hits him like a tsunami on a sunny day.""First Peter is gone and he thinks it can get no worse. Then he arrives back on earth and Steve tells him that he is sorry.Pepper and Rhodey are gone. Taken by the tsunami. By Thanos."If you told him 5 years ago, that he would be in love with a beautiful women and have an amazing pseudo-son who is as smart as he is, he would have laughed and slammed the door in your face. But now he does have that and he would do anything to get them back.





	Tsunami

It hits him like a tsunami on a sunny day.

There was no warning, it came out of nowhere. He is in his workshop, his retreat and the waves are lapping gently against the sand, with only a few clouds on the horizon. Tony’s body relaxes in the soft sand of the beach and his eyes drift close. He can’t remember the last time he slept properly.

All of a sudden, the clouds flock closer, indicating in their numbers. Dark grey and purple dominate the horizon and then, he is back there. Back on Titan. Back and watching the last moments he had with Peter.

There are so many things he would do differently if he knew what the future held.

The tsunami sweeps around him, a personified version of the dust on the alien planet. It dissipates slowly, taking everything he loves with it. It leaves nothing, not even a speck. First Peter is gone and he thinks it can get no worse. Then he arrives back on earth and Steve tells him that he is sorry.

Pepper and Rhodey are gone. Taken by the tsunami. By Thanos.

There is no getting them back. They are dead and even the inventor can’t fix it. He is the mechanic, he can fix anything. Apart from this.

The tsunami ruins him. He can’t live without the people he loves. The people who supported him through thick and thin. But now they are all gone and he has to struggle through life without them. He has to find a way to survive without them.

He goes to one of Steve’s therapy sessions. He knows it should be about living, not just surviving but he can’t bring himself to move on. Pepper and Peter made up the best parts of him. Moving on makes him feel like he is slowly forgetting them. They don’t deserve to be forgotten. But maybe he does.

It is one month after the Snap and Tony Stark is broken.

He gives an anonymous donation of millions to the UN. They use that money to erect memorials to the fallen. He has succeeded in something. They will not be forgotten.  
The first time he laughs after the snap is when Steve comes back the Compound, praising the man who was selfless enough to donate money to the memorials. Seeing that he had spend the last few months berating Tony for not doing anything to help with the recovery effort. Tony sits through it, silent. He knows he deserves it but when Steve comes back, praising him without knowing, 

Tony can’t help but give a small chuckle as he retreats to his workshop. Somethings never change.

It is three months after the Snap and the broken pieces slowly, gradually, beginning to heal.

The tsunami has moved on and the silence dominates. Where there used to be life, there is now ruins. The landscape has been devastated and nothing that remains has been untouched. The tsunami has left its impact on every life, every soul. Nothing can make it go away.

The governments around the world try to rally their remaining citizens. They try to return life to some semblance of normality. The world comes together in shared pain.

They are trying to mend what has been devastated by the tsunami but Tony cannot do the same. The tsunami has passed but nothing can fill the emptiness that it has left behind. Where before, there was laughter, now there is silence and there is nothing Tony can do to fix it. He is a mechanic, a fixer, but this he cannot fix.

He starts re-appearing at public functions, attending parties and pretending to be fine. He sets a standard for the world.

It is 5 months after the Snap and the world is starting to heal. Tony Stark is not and the world sees him through rose tinted glasses.

He dedicates all his remaining time and energy to trying to find a way to bring them back. Bring back the ones he lost. All the colour, all the excitement was gone. He made it his goal to bring them back. Bring them all back.

He is drifting through the fields of asphodel, aimless. There is nothing that gives him purpose anymore. Even programming FRIDAY and fiddling around in his workshop became nothing more than a chore without the bright, bubbly teenager next to him.

There was a massive empty space in his life and there was nothing he could do to fill it.

It is 1 year after the Snap and Tony Stark’s frayed pieces are caught in a standstill.

Governments are uniting and sharing their now precious resources. Even countries that had previously been withdrawn from world politics had offered a hand to those that are struggling to most. It is a thin silver lining to a cold, black cloud.

Tony Stark has fallen into a rhythm. Fiddle in his workshop then go out to a party or gala, get ridiculously drunk and fall into bed and hope he doesn’t get any nightmares. Rinse and repeat. Some days there were variations to this routine. These were the days he hated the most.

Routines were easy. He didn’t need to think, only having to rely on muscle memory. Thinking meant remembering and remembering meant nightmares and flashbacks. His aim was to avoid both of those at all costs.

It’s 9 months after the Snap and Tony’s shattered pieces are splintering.

He has just about given up trying to get them back. The research led nowhere. He has almost accepted it as pointless to keep trying but he can't quite. He needs them in his life, this he knows. Without them, the tsunami may have well taken him as well. Tony doesn’t know why it didn’t. Maybe it should have.

Their faces appear every time he closes his eyes. They haunt him through his nightmares and into every minute he spends awake. There is no escape. He doesn’t know if he wants one. Maybe he deserves this for letting them be taken away. For losing.

Steve always said that they would lose together. Tony never considered the possibility of it actually occurring. They were the Avengers. They didn't lose. He hadn’t thought the word was even in Steve’s vocabulary before the tsunami.

Now he knows but oh does he wish that he didn’t.

Sometimes he lies in bed and wishes for the ignorance he used to have. He had known about Thanos ever since New York but he never could have imagined how bad the tsunami would be when it hit. Never would it have had occurred to him. Now he wishes that he had fought harder for the Accords, fought harder to be allowed to make another Ultron, fought harder for… everything.

He wishes he could have done everything better.

It is 5 years after the Snap and Tony is healed in a malunion fracture. All his pieces are sticking out wrong but he doesn’t care. He can function and that’s what matters.  
Steve turns up at his doorstep. They haven't spoken since the initial months of the aftermath and Tony wonders what on earth he is doing there. Steve is nothing but a reminder of all he has lost. Tony doesn’t want him here. He wants him to leave.

”Tony!”

He turns away. Whatever Steve wants, he doesn’t want to do. He doesn’t even need to hear it to know.

”Tony. We think we’ve found a way to bring them back. To bring them all back.”

He stops. Hope starts filtering through his heart but he pushes it down. He survived without it for so long, he doesn’t need it now.

”No.” He hopes that his voice isn’t shaking. ”I can’t help you.”

Steve pursues him into the house. ”We need you Tony. We can’t do it without you.”

He was appealing to Tony’s ego. Is that really all Steve thought he was? An ego and a brain. Maybe it was. But that didn’t mean he has to let others treat him like it is.

Anger flooded through him. He doesn’t know where it came from but all of a sudden, he is yelling at Steve, letting out all the emotions he has kept hidden in the years since the tsunami. He can’t stop. He doesn’t want to.

Eventually, he stops yelling and sinks down to the ground, head in his hands. It felt good while he was doing it but now that he has stopped, the silence lingers in the air. It feels like the initial moments after the tsunami. It brings back memories and he hates it.

Steve comes over and sits next to him, silent. Tony wishes half-heartedly that he would speak but knows that when he does, he will not like what he is saying.

”I deserved that.”

Tony immediately shakes his head. No, Steve didn’t. It was unfair of Tony to take out his rage on Steve but wasn’t the world unfair. The tsunami was. Nothing could compare to that so Tony doesn’t argue. He just doesn’t have the energy.

Steve seems to know that. He sits there. Tony thinks that maybe he is waiting for him to say something, maybe to apologise. If so, he’s going to be sitting there for a while. Tony can’t apologise. He has so much to be sorry for, he can't let his first apology be on Steve.

Eventually, Steve gets up and leaves. Tony watches him go, an empty pang in his chest. He hopes that they figure it out. Quantum time travel should be possible, he knows that. He knows that if he tries, he could crack the problem. Isn’t that what he is supposed to do? He knows he could. But he is afraid of what will happen if they do manage to save the people that were lost.

They will hate him. Pepper and Peter will hate him, Rhodey too.

Pepper was already so close to leaving. She couldn’t handle Iron Man. She didn’t understand that Iron Man was a manifestation of the best part of him. He didn’t blame her. He regrets bringing her into his mess in the first place. Maybe if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t be gone. If they did manage to bring her back, she would definitely leave.

Peter, Peter was an oasis in the desert of his life. He was innocent, a fresh face among old. Tony loved him. Now that he was gone, he didn't have to be afraid to admit it. If the other Avengers managed to bring them back, Peter would be the first to leave.

Whenever he had looked at Tony, he had always had that look of hero-worship, even after they started getting close. After this, that look would be gone. Tony had always known that eventually it would be shattered, and he lived to dread that day. That day had come and gone and all Tony could do was wait and dread.

Rhodey wasn’t like the other two. He had met Tony when he was 15 at MIT. He had seen all the good and all the bad and stayed to tell the tale. Tony could delude himself to believe that this would be no different. But he knew it would be.

This time, Tony had killed half the universe. It wasn’t just him and Rhodey, both drunk in a bar with finals the next day. The whole world was relying on him and he had failed. Isn’t that all he does? It certainly seems that way.

If Rhodey did forget him, he wouldn’t deserve it.

It is two weeks after Steve came to him. 5 years, two weeks, one day, 12 seconds his brain murmurs. He tells it to shut up.

There are news reports speculating about an explosion at the Avengers Compound. Tony thinks he knows what happened. He hopes everyone is alright.

That night, he can’t sleep. The silence is overwhelming. It reminds him of the moment after the tsunami. Tony gets out of bed. He doesn’t even realise when he drifts over to his workshop.

He stays up all night but it is done. Tony Stark has figured out the mystery of time travel. He almost can’t believe it. He has a chance to fix all the wrong he has done. That or he could mess it up even more.

Tony clenches his fists so hard his knuckles turn white. He can’t afford to think about that. He knows he needs to take the chance. Peter’s face flashes before his eyes. He needs to do it. For Peter.

The next day, he drove to the Compound. Steve was out the front. Tony didn’t want to speak to him but he had a reputation to keep up.

”So.” He says, rolling down the window. ”I heard there was a explosion.” He adds a hint of smugness onto the end of the sentence and knows it has worked when Steve’s face tenses.

”Do you have what we need?”

Tony rolls his eyes. ”‘Course.”

The Captain holds out his hands and Tony takes an involuntary step back. Siberia flashes through his eyes. It happened a long time ago but he is a genius. He doesn’t forget.

In an effort to cover his slip-up, Tony grabs the tech and walks straight past Steve. He can imagine the blonde’s teeth grinding together in his frustration. The image makes his lips twitch. The closest thing to a real smile he has had in a long time. He misses it.

The door to the Compound opens automatically and a burst of nostalgia floods through him. This place used to be his home.

Tony’s heart speeds up as Steve leads him down to the labs in the bowels of the building. There are tell-tale signs of the explosion but the Avengers have obviously been trying to rebuild. He wonders what his place would have been if he had stayed. Would he have used his suit to pick up the rubble or focused on coming up with new architecture for the rebuild? If he is being honest with himself, Tony knows he would have done both.

Anything for the Avengers, right? Anything for his family.

He shakes the thought out of his mind as they walk into Tony’s old lab. They must have used it because it was empty. He knows it was logical but that doesn’t stop the pang of betrayal. 

”Tony!” Bruce looks up with a sigh of relief. ”We’ve been trying-”

Tony cuts him off, holding up his briefcase. ”Don’t worry, Brucie-Bear.” He tacks on a little grin. ”I brought help.”

The two scientists set to work, the others standing aside watching. Tony does his best not to catch Natasha’s eyes; he can feel her watching him, analysing him. He wonders briefly what she’s thinking and then firmly tells himself he doesn’t care. He’s Tony Stark. Of course he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. Why would he?

They finish after an hour. Most of the others have left. Only Natasha and Steve still stand there watching. He doesn’t know why they have stayed. He wishes they left. It would be easier to work. It would be easier to concentrate.

Steve leaves to call the others. Natasha stays.

”Tony…” Her voice trails off. ”You don’t need to hide with us.”

He hoists a smirk onto his face. ”And what am I hiding, pray tell?”

She sighs, shaking her head. ”That. You have all your walls up. I haven't seen it this bad since… Since the palladium poisoning.”

Tony winces at the memory. ”I’ll break down your wall.” He winks, trying not to make it sound like the scrappy come back it is.

”You’re avoiding the question.”

He hasn’t fooled her. She is the first one to see through his many masks and it makes a warm feeling erupt in his chest. For her to notice, she must care. Tony scrunches his eyes shut and forcibly pushes the thought out of his head. Why would she care?

He debates what to do. This scenario was completely unseen; he would not have predicted it in a thousand years. In the end, he retreats to his last resort. He drops the masks and her eyes widen in horror. She can see who he truly is, what he has turned into since the tsunami devastated their lives.

He knows it hit her hard too. Nick Fury and Maria Hill had been their for her since the beginning. They had supported her when no one else did. But they are gone. Clint Barton as well. At first, no one knew where he was. They had taken a day-trip to his farm. Nothing. They had had to presume that he had gone with the others. Natasha was devastated. She had tried to hide it but she didn’t have enough energy to really try. He was her best friend, her confident.

When they discovered the mysterious deaths in the world, Natasha knew straight away. She didn’t want to accept it. Tony could understand that. If he was in her position, he knows that he would have preferred ignorance. You can mourn someone who is dead but ultimately, there is nothing more you can do. Clint was alive but she couldn’t help him. She knows he wouldn’t want to be helped.

Tony pities her. He knows she wouldn’t want it but as a wise man once said, ‘What they don’t know can’t hurt them.’

He stares at Natasha for a moment, letting the true effects of what she was seeing sink in. Tony wonders what he will do next. He hadn't thought this far ahead. The larger part of him wanted to flee. The Avengers had the tech. Bruce knew how to use it. They didn’t need him.

A much smaller part wants to stay. Natasha is the Avenger he can empathise with the most. If things had started differently, maybe they could have been friends. Sadly, the universe was against him, as always, but maybe now, they could have a second chance at friendship.

Tony internally winces at how cliche that sounded.

The smaller part wins and he stays. She opens her mouth to say something but at the inopportune time, Steve walks in with the others. He seems ignorant of the high tension in the air but some of the others are glancing at him and Natasha, most likely wondering what they walked into. He isn’t inclined to tell them.

Steve starts speaking, briefing them on what they are going to do. Tony takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. He feels out of place. All the others have been living together for the last five year, fighting for a sense of normality. Maybe that was a pipe dream but at least they tried. All he did was run. Run from his grief. Run from his problems. Run from his life.

Someone pushes him gently and he returns his attention to the matter at hand. Steve is scowling at him. Tony gets the sense that they’ve been trying several times to get his attention. He smirks quoting what Steve had just said verbatim. There are some positives to being a genius.

Steve’s scowl deepens but he returns to clarifying something to Scott Lang. Tony turns around to give a Natasha a thankful smile. He shouldn’t have been zoning out and he mentally kicks himself. This is the only way to get Peter, Pepper and Rhodey back. He needs to give it his all.

The next few minutes are a blur. They all take their positions on the Quantum Time Machine and Steve starts to speak.

”Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each.

”No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win.”

Tony gives Steve a look. Titan flashes through his mind. That was how it ended the last time he listened to one of these speeches, the last time Steve promised they’d win. A flash of doubt zips through his mind. Does he really want to do this?

Tony pinches himself violently. This is the only way to get his loved ones back. He didn’t want to keep going without them.

”Whatever it takes.”

Steve’s head whips around to stare at him in shock. Belatedly, Tony realises that that was the first time he had spoken to them that wasn’t some sort of joke.

”Good luck,” Steve finishes, moving his gaze between them. It was all too present on everybody’s minds that this could be the last time they could see each other alive.

”See you in a minute.” Natasha says, smiling excitedly.

Tony admires her enthusiasm and confidence. He wishes he had the same faith in their abilities. Glancing around at the others, Tony looks down at the vial of Pym Particles. This is the last chance he has to pull out. He briefly considers it but deep down, he knows he is humouring himself. He meant what he said. Whatever it takes. 

The next second, he is hurtling through the Quantum Realm. Everything is moving too fast. His eyes can’t keep up. He squeezes them shut and only opens them when he can feel sunlight warming his suit.

Shakily looking at the others, Tony sighs a silent sigh of relief as he realises that Steve, Bruce and Scott made it as well. Even when he committed to this time heist, he still had his doubts over whether or not it would work. He just hadn’t cared anymore.

”We made it.” Scott says, his mouth hanging open.

Steve nods, already distracted. They have landed in the middle of the battle of New York, in an alley somewhere. The Captain hands out their various assignments There are three stones in New York. All they have to do is find them.

They split up, Bruce going one way and Tony, Steve and Scott going another. Tony takes the lead, heading towards Stark Tower. His stomach twists as it comes into sight. He had regretted selling it ever since he moved to the Avengers Compound.

”What’s the plan, Cap?” Scott asks, breaking Tony’s train of thought.

Steve lays out the plan. There are a million things that could go wrong but Tony doesn’t mention any of the unknown variables. He knows there is no point.

Scott shrinks and climbs up to settle on Tony’s shoulder. Tony looks at Steve. There are a million things he wants to say but now is not the time. They have work to get down. There is no room for sentiments to get in the way. There never is but the stakes are higher than ever. Half the universe depends on them.

Steve nods at him and they split up, heading to their assigned positions.

\---

It turns out that stealing the stones is easier said than done.

They meet up in an alleyway near the Tower. Scott and Steve arrive together. Scott must have briefed Steve on what happened because Tony can already see the wheels turning in his head.  
Scott’s eyes glitter with anger. He rounds on Tony. ”This is all your fault! You never wanted a time heist, you weren't on board with the time heist… You should have held onto the case tighter…”

Tony just stands there, taking the verbal assault. It is his fault. He deserves this. He should have held on tighter. Now because he hadn’t… His last hope of getting his family back was gone. He had failed, had done the one thing he had sworn not to do.

”Scott, stop.” Steve says. ”There were lot of things that could have gone wrong. This wasn’t Tony’s fault.”

Tony snorts. He could have told Steve that before they went and stuffed up. Clenching his fists, Tony tries to calm down. Pepper, Peter, Rhodey. It wasn't either of their faults. Pepper, Peter, Rhodey. He’s taking out his anger on them. Pepper, Peter, Rhodey. They don’t deserve that. Pepper, Peter, Rhodey…

Steve starts talking again, bring Tony’s attention back to the situation at hand. ”Are there any other options with the Tesseract?”

Scott shakes his head, starting to pace. ”No, no, no. There's no other options.”

”There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We only have one particle left.” Tony says, pushing his emotions away. He needs to be able to think rationally.

”There needs to be another way…”

Tony watches Steve and Scott pace up and down the alley, his own anxiety spiking up. He quickly smothers it, thinking of all the people he has lost. He is never going to get them back. Apathy takes over and he closes his eyes, trying to settle his frantic mind.

He reopens them after about five minutes. Steve and Scott were still pacing. They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. He sits down and relaxes against the brick wall of the alley. It seems like so long ago when Bruce taught him how to meditate in order to calm his racing mind.

He lets his mind settle, focusing on the image of a flickering candle. Tony found it impossible to think about nothing for long enough for the meditation to work so he had settled on an alternate method. Every time a thought briefed into his mindscape, he burnt it in the fire.

All of a sudden, something occurred to him. There was still a chance! The idea wasn't concrete but it was definitely something he could work with.

”There is another way.” He whispers. Neither Steve nor Scott heard so he is forced to repeat himself.

They stare.

Tony looks at Steve. ”Military Installation, Garden State. We can get the Tesseract and more Pym Particles.”

”When were they both there?” Steve asks.

”…I have a vague idea”

”How vague?”

Tony hold up one finger and Steve nods

”Wait, what’s going on. Where are we going?” Scott looks between the two in bewilderment.

”Shh… He’s trying to think.” Steve says, eyes focused on Tony.

”1970.”

Scott looks at Steve, his forehead creased. ”Are you sure Cap? Captain. Steve, sorry, America. Rogers. Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back.”

Tony’s heart throbs. Scott only asked about Steve. He only cares about Steve. Of course he does. Tony has been missing for the last five years, wallowing in his own self-pity. While he was doing absolutely nothing, the others have been trying to fix the damage left behind by the tsunami. Scott is right to not care. He was useless.

”Your call.” Tony says, momentarily ignoring Scott.

”Here we go.”

The world collapses around them and all of a sudden they are travelling back through the quantum realm. Tony once again squeezes his eyes shut and waits for the feeling of cold air to hit him in the face. 

Looking back, he can't tell when exactly it went wrong but he would guess it started the moment that Tony realised that there they had stopped moving and there was no air on his face. It was also about then that he realised that in the chaos, he hadn't realised that Steve's hand had disconnected from his own. 

Tony sucked in a startled breath and opened his eyes. Inky black mist surrounded him, partly obscuring the surrounding scenery. Tony squinted his eyes, trying to make out as much his surrounding environment as possible.

What he presumed to be trees rose tall and dark out of the surrounding mists, stretching their long, dark limbs into the sky. The thin, spindly branches reached out, weaving the mist around their fingers. A shiver crept down Tony's spine and he tore his eyes away. This whole place was creepy. He wanted to find Steve and get the hell out of here.  
An image of the wormhole crept into his mind. Tony tried to shove it away like he did every other time but this time it wouldn't go away, wouldn't leave him alone. His environment only increased his panic and paranoia caused by the traumatic flight into space so long ago.

He knelt, trying to find something that felt familiar. Something that could ground him and convince him that he was still on Earth, not... not in space. Tony tentatively reached out a hand to touch the hard ground. It wasn't made of anything he had ever felt before and he could feel his breath increasing in speed, heart rate thundering in his ears. Clenching his fists, he made a conscious effort to even out his breathing but to no avail. His panic kept building and building the more he tried to quench it.

Already exhausted and out of options, Tony pushed it to the edge of his mind. He couldn't afford to have a panic attack when he was in unfamiliar territory without knowing where Steve was. Cautiously, the brunette started slowly walking forwards, hands stretched out in front of him as though he was a blind man. 

The only sound he could hear was his heartbeat and even that was starting to calm down as his focus was diverted. Sadly enough, he couldn't bring himself to be thankful. The eery silence was starting to get to him.

"Steve?" Tony called out and then immediately regretted it. His voice rang through his surroundings, disrupting the silence.

Something shifted and then: "Who dares to destroy my rest?"

Tony's eyes flitted around the space, desperately trying to see if there was somewhere he could take cover. He didn't know what it was and that was what scared him the most. How can you fight something if you don't know what you're supposed to be fighting?

He slowly made his way towards one of trees, thinking he could take refuge behind it and wait until the monster went back to sleep. Tony pressed his back against the tree, releasing the breath he had unconsciously been holding. Now all he had to do was wait.

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps moving closer, rustling the dark leaves covering the ground. A pale hand appeared from the darkness, reaching for him and Tony jumped, fighting his instinct to back away. There was a tree at his back, he had nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to hide.

It was kind of poetic in a way. He had fought all the way through life, not caring about anyone other than himself but his actions went without consequences because he was a Stark. He was rich. But as soon as he came back from Afghanistan and started trying to do the right thing, he started to be punished. Maybe it was karma, maybe it was just bad luck but either way it was ironic.  
Tony knew this was more than likely going to be his end. He couldn't be Iron Man without accepting that he was probably going to die before his time. He just wished he could have seen Rhodey, seen Pepper, seen Peter one last time. When they disintegrated, it was like a hole had been ripped from his heart. Four of them in fact. Hopefully when he died, he would be able to see them again. If the universe could grant him one wish for all the good he's ever tried to do it would be that.

A tear dripped down his face and the hand reached up to wipe it away.

"I do not know who you are but this will be your end. Nobody comes here, disturbs me and gets away with it."

Sharp nails plunged into his chest, grabbing something and pulling. Tony was only awake for one second before the agony took over and pulled him into unconscious and with that final second, he smiled.

The thing had pulled out his heart. The words from so long ago drifted into his semi-conscious mind.

Tony Stark has a heart.

Oh the irony.

**Author's Note:**

> This is so much longer than anything I've ever written before oh my gosh. 5.3k. Wow. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it and feel free to tell me what you think. Good, bad, I want to know. Just please keep in mind that I wrote the last 500-ish words during the second day of NaNoWriMo when I was already behind so they might be in a completely different style or have a bunch of spelling mistakes. 
> 
> Sorry about that in advance. I will get back and edit it but I gotta focus on writing 50,000 words while still passing my exams. Wish me luck and thanks for reading!


End file.
